~Malia~
"Is Malia your real name?"
I scoffed at his unabashed attempt to rattle me right out of the gate. We had just started our questioning to glean information from each other and Prince Louis was already off to a rocky start.
"Malia Echols. I actually didn't know I was a Spencer until Mar told me all about the family."
Louis seemed skeptical of this as he rested his arms on the kitchen island and I was glad we had moved our conversation from the cramped loveseat as my heart had been beating overtime due to his nearness.
The setting sun cast a sultry shadow across Louis' tanned skin, making him seem all the more dangerous in that situation but it was as if I were cornered by a lion desperate to catch his prey.
I had no choice-if I was going to escape Robert then I needed friends in high places, and there was no higher place I could find in my circumstances than the actual prince.
I braced myself to ask my next question, grateful that I was sitting on the other end of the kitchen instead of directly across from him.
"What do you know of the local gangs, powerful drug lords, and mass crime in London? Who is the leader, who has the most control of the lower lackeys, things like that."
I could tell that he was more than thrown by that question. The wheels in his head began turning and then grinding to a screeching halt as he realized he had no idea why I wanted to know these things."
"Why do you even want to know that?"
"Uh uh uh, no follow up questions. This is an answer for answer scenario."
He sighed and raked a hand through his dark messy hair and I could tell that he was trying to conjure up the information from the back of his mind.
"I only remember bits and pieces but the King is always in the media. Not the actual King-that's just the given name he chose to make people fear him I suppose. He leads all of the cocaine and heroine distribution in the city and to the residing towns. Local police have done all they could but he is very elusive. My turn to ask a question now. Why are you wanting to know about crime and drugs when it should be the least of your concerns?"
That was it. The question. The one I had been dreading since we began playing this little game of ours.
Deep breaths. In and out. In and out.
I closed my eyes and stood up, Louis matching me step for step until we met in the middle of the kitchen.
I began pulling up my shirt when I felt his warm hands placed on mine as if to stop me from what I was about to show him.
"If you think I can be distracted with sex, you're wrong. Well you're right but once we're done I'll still ask you the same question."
I rolled my eyes and swatted his hands away even though I enjoyed how they felt on my skin and took a small step back from him.
"I'm not trying to have sex with you, I'm trying to show you the answer to your question."
Only when I gradually lifted my shirt and exposed my scar along my ribcage from a particularly nasty beat down from Robert did Louis' eyes show some understanding, if not a fair amount of masked anger as well.
His eyes flickered to the scar and then back to my eyes as he reached out with a few tentative fingers, the question on his tongue but never asked and I made the decision for him as I guided his hand to touch it, the roughness of the scar still apparent from the rusted razor blade that had made the forever intention into my skin.
"I lied before at school when I met Robert...I wasn't upset meeting him because he had the same name as an ex or someone insignificant. He has the same name as my step-father Robert Carmichael...the man who did this to me."
A tiny breath escaped his lips as his fingers traced delicate patterns across my skin, the sparks igniting only a silent reminder that I wasn't back in that evil place with that evil man.
A few deep breaths and I staved off the memories threatening to overflow my mind. No one had ever seen that particular scar and I couldn't help but feel a wave of nausea come over me as I attempted to collect myself to describe the scene.
"He'd has a really bad day at work I guess, considering it was the day he was fired. Mom has died a few weeks back and I'd only been accosted and backhanded once or twice. I was tired and emotional from school, my mom has just died and my boyfriend was dead, or so I thought, and my life was just miserable. I snapped at Robert and told him to suck it up because he wouldn't stop cussing about his boss firing him and it made me furious that he was more concerned about this firing than he was about my mom's death.
"Then, he pulled his razor blade out of his back pocket. I didn't see it clearly and he asked me what I said with an attitude so of course I had one back."
I had to stop for a second to catch my breath before continuing.
"He lunged at me from out of nowhere and tackled me to the ground. He had the blade to my throat but I was able to fend him off for as long as I could and I got out of his grip but he came after me again after I was up and his blade caught me in the side. I went to the hospital after he left me bleeding on the floor because I called one of my friends to get me and they paid for my doctor's visit.
"Why didn't you run away, go live with this friend who helped you?" he interjected, hands still on my waist but this time squeezing me as if he were holding me close to make sure I couldn't leave.
"He was living in the last place my mom had lived and was the only connection to her I had left. All of her things and my inheritance were in that place but I wasn't eighteen yet so I couldn't legally own the house. I was stuck with no money. So I went back and dealt with his abuse until finally he snapped again and almost killed me this time which is why I'm on crutches, not because I was in a car accident."
His eyes were steely, and the wheels were turning in his head as to how he could process this information.
"So how did Lady Spencer find you?"
"I didn't know I had any relatives left...when she showed up it was a miracle that fell out of the sky. She was listed as my next of kin somehow in the databases and came and got me. My mom never spoke of her life before me, only that she had a baby out of marriage and her family basically shunned her so she cut all ties with them and came to America to be with my real dad, but he ran out on us as soon as I was born."
The room became eerily quiet and all I noticed was the distinct breaths between each of us as we were so close together, it was almost as if there were electric sparks jumping between the two of us.
"And anyways, wasn't it my turn to ask a question?"
I peeked up at him through my eyelashes as I slowly pulled my shirt back down causing him to remove his hands from my hips, causing me immediate regret as I instantly missed his touch.
"How could I ever refuse to answer anything you ask of me from here on out?"
His look was tender, but his touch was even gentler as his hand came to rest on my cheek.
I leaned my head into his hand reflexively as my eyes closed of their own accord while I allowed myself to collect my feelings and the need to kiss him in that very moment.
"Who put the idea in your head that I was only in your life because my birth father had recruited me to basically steal all of your money? As if that could ever even happen."
Opening my eyes, the tenderness in his eyes took me aback and I felt myself bite my lip out of habit, hoping that I hadn't ruined our gentle moment, wondering idly how the details of my gruesome past had created such a calm atmosphere around us.
"Partly myself and partly my cousins. It's hard being royal never knowing who is coming after you, but after hearing about your past I'm coming to understand that you truly don't care about my title or wealth."
"Why would I care about your title or wealth when apparently I inherited one of my own without even knowing it? I don't need anymore scrutiny that's for sure, especially after..." I trailed off, not wanting to get into the rest of the nitty gritty with him just yet. I needed to know him more before we got to that part.
Another selfish part of me didn't want to ruin the moment, still half hoping that he would kiss me...I was definitely losing it.
His tongue darted out to wet his pink lips and I felt my heart rate increase tenfold.
"Especially after what? There's more to this story?", he asked, as if he couldn't believe my past could be even more messed up.
I sighed and was about to open my mouth to ruin the moment and speak, but an interruption from his body guard and driver stopped me in my tracks.
"Your Highness, we have to leave now. There's been an incident at Big Ben."
Louis' eyes contained confusion and disappointment that we weren't able to finish our conversation.
"This isn't over."
And by the look on his face and the flush in my cheeks I knew that he was right, and a flash of panic erupted in me with the question of if it would ever be truly over.
*******
Author's Note:
I'm baaaaack!
Having a baby is a huge deal and I'm so sorry it took me so long to get back into the swing of things with this book but continuing this book is my plan and I'm so excited about the direction that it's headed!!
Until next time my lovely readers,
Kristen :)